It starts at the port, then go through a mangrove, following a glance at the sea.
It’s beautiful at sunset, when the surroundings painted in orange and the sun like a giant spotlight, while the water is still and reflects the sky. It’s breath-taking moment and I bet you would stop for photographs to your instagram collection.
The road is generally good, but some area will be a little bit rough, especially when you reach residential neighborhood.
Following the road and you’ll see dramatic cliffs, amazing curve surprising you with stunning landscape. Silhouette play a main road in this natural painting, especially during sunrise and sunset.
National-garden route
The road takes you through Cat Ba National garden, where you pay a visit to the entrance, buy tickets and join the hiking into the forest.
Most of the time you will be surrounded by solitude atmosphere, trees, sometimes joined by condos above spreading their wings with friends.
There are two caves: one you have to pay at the entrance, the other, Quân y cave, you will pay none if you enter at the end of the cave, which there’s a sign sided the road.
The wooden bridge in Gia Luan neighborhood
At the end of the route, take notice and you will see a wooden bridge on the right, there’s a path where you can ride down to access. It’s worth a try due to the romantic view.
Combining two routes and you will have a:
Perfect loop!
Biking tips:
Remember that there are few lights sided the roads, be careful when you’re out at night.
There are few repair shops on coastal road or when you’re in national garden area, but still people ride by, wave them and use your body language your bike broken-down and need repairs, they will tell the shop to have your bike fixed.
Lan Ha bay cruise tour for one day is such a must-try experience in Cat Ba island. I did it, and these are some reasons why you should do the same.
I add some tips in case you give it a try.
1. Schedule
This is a full day trip. The tour starts from 8:00 and you disembark at 17:00 so, except for the sunrise at dawn, you will experience the bay in mostly every hours on day with so many colors and themes of landscape and sun.
Tips:There’re transit minivan coming to pick you up at the booking agent office. No hassle!
Bánh Đa Cua – local spectialty
There’s no breakfast included but usually free-breakfast of hostels served after 8:00, so if you feel hungry, it’d better getting around early and have some food before. For me, I have Xôi (sticky rice), Bánh dày (round sticky rice cake) or a bowl of local Bánh đa cua (local crab rice noodle), they were all awesome!
When the cruise turns back in the late afternoon, the transit will get you straight forward your hostel, so when you’re back on the minivan, make sure you can look out and mark your accomodation so that the driver drops you by
2. Price
Price depends on the agency you book the tour, ranges from 350,000 – 380,000 vnd/ pax.
The experience covers from cruising, kayaking, lunch, drop you by remote beaches and eventually take a walk around Monkey island.
I find it reasonable and worth a try. I know Cat Ba is a beautiful destination but without eyes to Lan Ha bay, you miss a lot of stunning experience.
3. Experience
I’ll tell you what surprises me most!
The landscape, well, Lan Ha bay (or former Ha Long bay complex) was such a beautiful touch to my every senses. Green, Rocks, Sky – exquisite harmony!
We saw a big fish, no, giant fish, and there’re only two in the bay.
We kayaked for over one hour. That was the first time I’ve been on a kayak, and got used to it quickly, then we moved around, through caves, find shades among rocks and greens, when the time stood still.
We settled down for a while and jump for joy, well, off the ship, for 1-2 second I didn’t remember and landing on the cool and clear water. We even saw jelly fish and make jokes when guiding people to circle around a imaginary jelly ones (because, you know, it’s said that jelly fish bite hurts you much).
Then we had lunch onboard surrounded by fantastic scenery, open talks about experience, many fellow travelers on the cruise, all around the world and stories keep flowing out of mouth like waterfall.
(Well, it’s a bit annoying when someones keep saying “you know, five years ago, it’s such a heaven on earth, I’ve been there at that time, now, I can’t recognize it anymore.)
After lunch, we took a lazy time resting then heading to a site where offers three tiny beaches (Ba Trái Đào isle). The cruise stopped in deep water and we swam ourselves toward those sands. It is very exciting and relaxing when you lie on the beach, among majestic rocks and an open sky, such a luxurious experience.
The final stop, Monkey island is also amazing when we caught a beautiful sunset, the sand was super fine and monkeys were very friendly (I shook hand with a guy) despite warning that you shouldn’t tease them much or you’ll take claws/ bites.
For hikers, there’s a challenging mountain not far from the house by the beach, you should be careful when climbing up, the rocks are quite sharp but the panoramic view on top is super worthy.
4. How to buy Lan Ha bay cruise tour (one-day)
This is one of the most popular tours in Cat Ba so you have no difficulty asking for it in any hostels, remember the price range as I mentioned above so that you won’t be rip-offed.
So you travel to Hai Phong, and have no idea about the food. Well, this post is for you !
Apart from Cat Ba island, I didn’t spend much time in Hai Phong, a port city in the northeast Vietnam. Most of my time is to find good food so I will review a bit about some local food in Hai Phong.
Only three dishes, no big deal.
Bánh đa cua (Crab brown rice noodle)
Well, when I write these words, my mouth is watering, again. It is such a delicious food with unique flavor.
The bowl includes cá viên (fish ball), riêu cua (like in “bún riêu“), chả thịt cuốn lá sương xông (spring roll by leaves), nõn tôm (unshelled shrimp), nõn tôm tích (unshelled mantis shrimp) mix with rau cần (water dropwort ) and hành phi (fried onion). You can spice up with some slices of hot chilly, a little salt, sauce and kumquat.
What make it special also lies in the noodle quality, it’s brownish, very different from rice noodle as we usually consume. The smell is well delivered via smoke and it is very good to taste on coldish days due to the warmth.
quán ăn at Hàng Kênh street
I enjoyed mine in a “quán ăn” (a mini restaurant) at 148 Hàng Kênh street. It is not really a ‘restaurant’ in term of European standard, but very popular style in Vietnam, but on top of that, the quality is pretty good).
There’s one thing to notice that the pavement is narrow to park your bike, so it would be difficult to find a room for your vehicles, especially when driving. So bear in my that share rides or taxis should be better.
One last piece of information: a pax cost 25,000 vnđ and you should order Thập cẩm (all ingredients mixed) to have every aspects of the topping, apart from your own taste (some may not eat shrimp, for example).
I took a bowl for lunch and it definitely made me full till the evening. Very qualified!
2. Bánh đúc tàu (Plain rice flan)
So this is for breakfast, you can find at around No.186 Hai Bà Trưng street.
There’s a vendor there with lots of bowl in row and “bánh đúc” also. It cost 10,000 vnđ/ pax and the taste is super unique.
As you may know, the northern cuisine tastes tend to be salty, this one turns out to be a little sweet, a little sour. The topping includes shrimp and tiny blocks of su hào (cabbage turnip). You can order more “bánh đúc” if your body need more calorie for a day, but it is totally made of rice with high carb, so, your call.
The pavement is large enough for parking, there’s also a local market near by to explore.
3. Bánh mì cay
I’m not fascinated with the name, well, it’s true, except for its size: very thin.
One costs you only 2,000 vnđ/ stick and there’s nothing much to expect: pate, little meat and spiced up with hot chilly sauce.
What make it become a legend, along with its size, is the bread quality and somehow, the weather. After preparing thoroughly, the cook will roast one more time so you will receive hot sticks. I recommend eat them at site, when it is in perfect condition. If you bring them home, it would be nice to microwave again.
Bánh mỳ cay vendor
The two destinations famous for Bánh mỳ cay is Bà Già (57 Lê Lợi), Khánh Nạp (192 Hàng Kênh). It’s quite popular in the city so you may see vendors here and there.
I had them after a movie at night. The temperature was quite low and it came to right time I needed something to warm me up and fulfill my hungry dream.
4. Thạch găng (Glass jelly)
Oh, I missed this one, and I doubt that it would be a copy of “sương sáo”, “phục linh”, “xoa xoa”, which only means glass jelly, maybe the topping would be different a bit, but the nature stays similar.
By the way, if you’d like to have a glass, it should be found in almost local markets, some travelers recommend Lương Văn Can, Cát Bi and Cố Đạo markets.
The price ranges from 10,000 – 20,000 vnđ. Due to your optional toppings, it would vary the price.
So with 4 dishes, you nearly take a food tour of Hai Phong city now. Have good meals!
